scott123

Barry's 100% correct, Chaz, you don't need the extra length on the sides. Beyond adding unnecessary weight, you're blocking air flow as you approach the side walls. Air flow on the front and back isn't necessary, but airflow on the sides is critical. If you're comfortable with a slightly heavier plate, you can give yourself a little extra on the sides to give yourself a larger lateral target, but I wouldn't go too much. If, say, you've got 17.5 front to back, maybe go 18 or 18.5 side to side. Try to leave a 1.5" gap on each side (3" total) for good air flow.

I've recently come up with a new way of measuring the front to back space. Take a piece of paper, set it on the shelf with an an inch or two sitting off the shelf/out the door. Close the door and let the door push in the paper. With the paper pushed in, measure the distance to the shelf and add this to the shelf dimension. Do this a few times, on both sides of the oven, to make sure you're getting the perfect measurement.

Make sure you position the paper in the area where the door protrudes towards the shelf the furthest, as some doors will have windows that curve away from the shelf. Also, when you're closing the door to push the paper, give it a little bit of extra pressure to compress the door's seal.

As you measure the shelf itself, make absolutely certain that you're aware of any lips in the back, as many shelves have a bar running across where your stone will go, preventing the stone from touching the back wall.

By pushing the paper with the door, you're getting every possible fraction of an inch on that back to front dimension. You can NEVER have too big of a target. 17.0625" (17 1/16") is far better than 17". If you get the plate and it ends up being 1/2" away from the door, that's just as tragic, imo, as if the plate were too large and the door didn't close.

Thanks for your input scott. My grate kinda slopes up in the back so I may go a bit smaller than 17.5 front to back so the plate sits flat on the grate. Left to right I have plenty of room so I may just go with barry's suggestion of a 17 x 17 x 1/2. Thanks again guys!

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Chaz

scott123

Chaz, if the shape of your oven rack is robbing you of critical front to back real estate, get rid of it. Angle aluminum. Cut two lengths and suspend them from shelf lip to shelf lip and rest the plate on that. Like this:

but with lightweight angle aluminum. Home depot usually has lengths stacked in a box. Angle iron would work well too, but make sure it's lightweight. The 1/8" bed frame angle iron is too big- it's thermal mass would extend your preheats and rob from the plate- it also might not fit between shelf lips.

Here's the dough made tonight (scott's recipe) with 100% AT. This ball is 360g and now in the fridge for an overnight nap in a lightly oiled container. When I added the dry to the wet and mixed with the danish dough wisk, the dough seemed VERY dry. But as soon as I started to knead by hand it came together nicely. Seemed a little sticky, but I guess this is to be expected? Below is what it looks like. Seems to be cottage cheesy to me. I didnt want to over knead it.

Chaz, if the shape of your oven rack is robbing you of critical front to back real estate, get rid of it. Angle aluminum. Cut two lengths and suspend them from shelf lip to shelf lip and rest the plate on that. Like this:

but with lightweight angle aluminum. Home depot usually has lengths stacked in a box. Angle iron would work well too, but make sure it's lightweight. The 1/8" bed frame angle iron is too big- it's thermal mass would extend your preheats and rob from the plate- it also might not fit between shelf lips.

Chaz: The other option would be to see if you can source a flat rack. The appliance section of my local hardware had one in a demo oven (and they gave it to me... nice bonus). It is also much stronger than the original rack (which bowed quite a bit from the weight of the plate). That bought me an extra 3/4" of depth.

Barry

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Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

I know a lot of people don't like messing with their expensive oven equipment but you can modify that pesky lip with a 3 pound sledge(big hammer).Also, an auto repair/muffler shop will have a "cut-off" wheel/tool that can make that lip go away in about 90 seconds.Or put it in their press if you don't have a heavy hammer/sledge.Just say'in.

scott123

Seemed a little sticky, but I guess this is to be expected? Below is what it looks like. Seems to be cottage cheesy to me. I didnt want to over knead it.

That's looks pretty good, Chaz, although I might take it a tiny bit further- maybe 30 more seconds of kneading. If you overknead it, it has a propensity to get a bit too chewy (for my tastes), but if you underknead, you risk the ingredients not completely mixing, which can produce wetter/more fragile areas during the stretch. You don't get much of a window. This is why I work with lower protein flours

That's looks pretty good, Chaz, although I might take it a tiny bit further- maybe 30 more seconds of kneading. If you overknead it, it has a propensity to get a bit too chewy (for my tastes), but if you underknead, you risk the ingredients not completely mixing, which can produce wetter/more fragile areas during the stretch. You don't get much of a window. This is why I work with lower protein flours

So do u think if I gave a little more kneading this am and reballed it til tonight that would be ok?

So...I made a few pies tonight using 100% AT flour. I made a plain and a brussel sprouts/pancetta pie with the AT. Then to get a comparison to the bread flour I have been using in the past, I made a plain using BF The AT dough had a nice taste to it but was not as easy to work with as the BF. You can see that with the BF pie, I was able to get a more uniform crust. The AT crust was all over the place...lol I think the next time, I will do a combo of the AT and BF. I think this might be the best of both worlds. Below id the side by side AT & BF pies.

I enjoyed the flavor and texture of the AT pies but I have 1 issue/problem with it. The crust was so light and airey with a ton of oven spring that the crust had some burning where those bubbles formed. Is there a way to avoid this? Should I bust those bubbles that I see in the crust prior to launching? I was trying to preserve the airyness so I didn't do that. What do u guys think? Maybe the answer is a blend of AT and BF I have on hand? Thanks in advance!

Chaz,I pre pop cornicion bubbles and stand at the ready with a long poker during the bake if I have an aggresive ferment dough.fwiw, been seeing a few really nice looking pies recently where folks used AT/AP and BF/AP....Hmmm...